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Also this completely changes the crowd dynamic for WM, instead of "guy leaving vs guy we don't want" and getting the Brock/Goldberg treatment you have "guy we like and is staying vs guy getting pushed down our throats" which seems to guarantee Roman's getting booed off the planet now.

Brock said it was an "offer he couldn't refuse", so I guess Vince really didn't want to lose another guy to MMA.

Just announced on SportsCenter.

In his defense. it would be pretty easy to not notice the big green belt was upside down.

It looked like the ladder hit him in the shin, which if you've ever been hit there you know is the most painful thing imaginable for like 5 solid minutes.

Not really, it's the same as a free agent in sports being able to bid his services to whatever team is willing to pay the most. He knows Bellator would easily overpay him to land a big name, UFC would also want him back, so it would be silly business wise for Brock to re sign with WWE before other MMA groups could legally make an offer. Of course this is all moot if: 1. Brock really doesn't want to go back to fighting and is just using MMA for leverage. 2. WWE makes a ridiculous offer he can't refuse just so Vince doesn't have to risk the ego bruise of two ex WWE champions leaving for MMA. In other fun news, apparently AJ and Nikki are going off script at each other frequently. Nikki did a promo on the Smackdown tapings tonight saying AJ's been around less than Brock Lesnar which you'd have to think would never be a WWE approved promo line. I get the impression the company views AJ as a giant mark after the whole tattoo thing, but she's just as untouchable as Nikki for obvious reasons so this could get fun.

Dave was saying WWE really wanted Brock to sign today, considering there's no reason for him to do so before Mania (yet he did appear on Raw) I wonder how that turned out.

I have a relatively recent Mania tradition (as in this is the second year we're doing it) where I take my PS3 over to a friend's house and watch it via my network sub. He's a bit of a foodie so he takes the opportunity to whip up tons to eat while I set up the network/watch the pre show stuff. As far as the show itself goes, I'm mainly interested in Cena/Rusev and Sting/H in terms of potential good matches. I think Hunter will be hellbent on proving he can have a good match with Sting, and the Rusev entrance alone should be stellar. I'm kind of interested in Brock/Roman but in a "how bad is this trainwreck going to be" way. I suppose the IC title match will be good considering multiple man ladder matches on PPVs tend to be showstoppers, but I really don't want to see guys nearly kill each other over the jobberweight title.

I had always assumed the issues with Perro Sr. were physical due to all the years of bumping on notoriously hard 70s-80s era lucha rings, but hearing Dave mention how it's more mental due to decades of unprotected chairshots just added a whole other level of sadness to the story.

ESPN Deportes has a story up saying Perro Sr. hasn't been told the news yet because of concerns regarding his health.

I realize this was an indy show and all, but why did it seem like Konnan was the only one trying to do anything to help him for a long time? Even if you assume the guy's just knocked out you would think the doctor would want to get him out of the way quickly.

Rob Viper posted this on the WO board:

I really hope to be wrong but it's kind of sad to read everyone hoping the WWE will stop treating the IC title like a jobber belt just because Bryan may win it. Nothing would make me happier than seeing the title back to 1987 standards, but what are the real odds whoever wins the ladder match just wont' be losing every week on TV?

It probably doesn't help matters that Backlund is either the most committed to his gimmick guy in the history of wrestling or he's legit insane.

Wasn't part of the issue Rock being a little upset that his contract was allowed to expire like some jabroni and not say, the fucking Rock? Plus it was pretty clear when Cena was taking shots at him that it was Vince's words coming out of his mouth. I wonder too what will happen when Cena's not only no longer "the guy" but not being protected as much as he has been. For all the talk of how even tempered he is, I don't think there's ever been a star at his level who didn't balk at the thought of having to start doing jobs like the normal folks.

It's becoming a bizarre psychology experiment at this point, it seems. I've never seen any company so hell-bent on damaging something they could have made serious money off of. Dave seems to be of the opinion Bryan's too nice of a guy and they want guys slotted at the top to be cutthroat. Bryan doesn't seem to be wired that way so they don't consider him main eventer material.

That's not something I see Vince caring a whole lot about, for several reasons.

Not complaining, but adding Fujinami was quite the random move. What's WWE's gain in doing this?

Yeah that confused me too. It's not like they were dressed as non WWF guys and it didn't appear as if they were doing anything distracting either. Most I noticed is the guy dressed as Flair did the "hey I'm on TV" stand up and wave thing at point.

I'm guessing the only hope the NXT women have is if the next post Wrestlemania talent purge consists of all the main roster divas other than Nattie/Paige/AJ/Bellas. On a somewhat related note, is Total Divas done after this current season? It seems that show is the main (only?) reason that the women who can't wrestle out of a paper bag are being kept on the roster.

Not to mention the story of them buying a house together made TMZ, and recent history shows they only do so when WWE tells them to.

They did a video on the app (I know, i know) where they tried to ask Rusev about it, he responded in Russian several times until asked if his and Lana's relationship was more than business and he said it was none of our business and walked off. So it looks like they are setting up including their real life romance as part of the story.

The only fly in the ointment here is if NXT did start to be a successful touring brand, I don't see Vince not wanting to get his hands on it.

Because it was clearly a parody/fan post not intended to be believed as the actual script.

The stuff with Rusev's lawyer was something, did no one bother to see if that guy could pull off an accent before putting him on TV? I guess one good thing about it was how it caused one of the best Vince-via-JBL flip out burials.